Waves has officially ceased plugin sales and has moved to subscription-only with the new Creative Access plans, starting at $14,99/month. What comes to your mind when I say Waves/Waves Audio? I think 99% of people will agree with me: endless super, mega sales, endless newsletters, and the dangerous WUP trap, Waves paid service for plugin updates.” Get the plugin almost for free, but pay it 4 times more for the WUP. And please do this annually.
Those are the reasons I almost stopped covering Waves Audio. I can’t support the business model because every purchase has a bad aftertaste. But as of today, those are things of the past. Waves has changed its business model and is now completely on subscriptions. Waves Creative Access Bye Bye Waves Plugin Sales, Hello Creative Access Subscriptions Starting today, Waves Creative Access is the only way to get Waves plugins. They also ceased the sale of plugin sale, aka perpetual licenses. This means, if you are interested in a new plugin, the new subscription plan is the only way to get it—owners of plugins from before the subscription will continue to own the existing version of their plugins. Then, the “beloved” WUP (Waves Update Plan” is not longer available. In order to continue receiving updates, plus new products, features… you will need an active subscription. There are two different plans available differing in the plugin amount: Waves Essential and Waves Ultimate. Waves Essential ($14.99 month / $149 year ) 110 industry-leading plugins including Waves Tune RT, Clarity Vx, Vocal Bender, and many more! All plugin updates included at no extra cost Select new plugins added at no extra cost Limited time bonus: 2 free months of Splice Sounds+ included NEW! StudioVerse – the AI-powered community for plugin chains: Thousands of mixing chains with AI search Waves Ultimate – $24.99 month / $249 year Over 220 industry-leading plugins—All Waves plugins in one subscription! All plugin updates are included at no extra cost New plugins added regularly at no extra cost Limited time bonus: 2 free months of Splice Sounds+ included NEW! StudioVerse – the AI-powered community for plugin chains: Thousands of mixing chains with AI search. Important: Waves Creative Access does not include Waves live sound applications such as eMotion LV1, SuperRack, SoundGrid Rack for Venue, and Dugan Speech. Waves StudioVerse Besides the new business model, Waves also introduced StudioVerse which includes thousands of plugin chains (and growing daily!), created by a community of hundreds of producers and engineers, accessible directly inside your DAW. StudioVerse opens from the Waves StudioRack plugin chainer, instantly allowing you to use and is powered by Musical AI search that recommends the best chains for your tracks. Just hit the ‘Scan Audio’ button: StudioVerse’s musical machine learning engine will learn your track’s “Audio ID” and instantly recommends mixing chains matching your unique sonic fingerprint. Each chain has up to 8 macros for easy tweakability First Impression Honestly, this is the first time I welcome a subscription service. After the never-ending mega sales (newsletters) and the overpriced WUP service, this business model is more transparent and easier to understand for the customer. No longer the bait offered to buy the WUP at some point. Yes, subscription services are not great, especially for musicians who can’t easily deduct them from their taxes. Nonetheless, I prefer this new “Waves” to the Waves we’ve known before. Waves Creative Access is now available now, starting at $14,99 per month or $149 per year. https://www.waves.com/subscriptions?irclickid=T-LykswtQxyNRhUVtaxcvx1GUkAWAoRzT1NlzQ0&irgwc=1&utm_medium=1440972&utm_campaign=Online+Tracking+Link&utm_source=ir |
